Vrij'dokk
Category:Troll Category:Hordecategory:PriestCategory:Tears of Draenor Vrij'Dokk In-Game: Vrijdokk (VREE-doc) Nickname: Dokk (more correctly, a title), Vrij (proper first name) Clan: Tears of Draenor Title: Champion Vitals Race: Troll, Gurubashi Class: Priest Professions: Herbalism, Alchemy Age: mid-50's Sex: Male Hair: Grey-blue Eyes: Pale yellow Weight: 175 lbs. Height: 5' 8" (7' 2" upright) Garments/Armor: Ceremonial finery Appearance A withered and gnarled appearance, even by the standards of troll-kind, distinguishes Vrij'dokk from his peers. He's clearly been treated poorly by life: malnutrition, imperfectly healed injuries, and an unnatural curvature of skeletal structure that perhaps suggests other unpleasant experiences. His eyes are watery and slightly vacant, under the influence of cataracts which partially occlude his full range of vision. He speaks softly and with imperfect articulation, although not heavily accented. He infrequently wears anything less than his finest robes and accoutrements, with a pronounced preference for anything of Gurubashi origin. He wields a long ritual blade in one hand, and rests on a short oak staff with the other. The general effect is baroque and antiquarian, in imitation of the high culture of more ancient civilizations, in contrast to the natural simplicity of modern trollish communities. Personality In orcish company Vrij'dokk rarely makes himself the center of attention, preferring to watch and make wry comments from the proverbial balcony. A thorough-going traditionalist, he follows the party line with respect to the most common Gurubashi biases and prejudices - a mistrust of technology and urban environments, a reflexive hostility toward humans and elves, and an unflinching acceptance of the harsh blood-laws of nature embodied by the primal gods. Nevertheless, these traits are clearly filtered through a civilized and mannered exterior, rather than manifesting in the more barbarous forms exemplified by the surviving tribes of Stranglethorn. He values utilitarian virtues like loyalty and cunning over altruistic virtues like compassion and self-sacrifice. Although not exactly courageous, he can be remarkably persistent in pursuit of any objective, perhaps even stubborn to a fault. History A jungle troll by birth (most likely Darkspear, though he's not free with his past), Vrij'dokk spent most of his early adult years in Western Lordaeron and the Northern Hinterlands, having relocated in anticipation of the unification of splintered troll tribes under the emergent Zul'jin alliance framework. Intertribal tensions remained sufficiently strong that non-Amani outsiders were unwelcome in the early Horde, and operated independently in guerrilla capacities, striking farm homesteads and trade centers with the intent of disrupting the supply of human armies. As the Alliance forces were driven north in the aftermath of the first war, life became increasing difficult for the various non-aligned paramilitary cells, and the newly formed paladin crusaders often cut their combat teeth by ferreting out the local troll warlords and bandits. Vrij'dokk himself focused primarily on the excavation of ancient ruins, hoping to discover older sources of forgotten magic such as the temples of lost gods or cults. Valuable artifacts were taken to an underground compound in the mountainous Hinterlands for further study, with most of the research under the oversight of Smolderleaf priests, a religious order associated with the Smolderthorn tribe. As the situation became more desperate, these artifacts were tapped more aggressively and recklessly, with overt attempts to invoke the legacy of darker spirits and deities that might have otherwise been treated with more caution. When Silver Hand forces finally penetrated the caverns, they found most of the trolls had fled or been mysteriously slain already, with only a few survivors. Those survivors showed signs of peculiar mental alteration, often unable to remember simple facts about recent events or falling into a partially catatonic state. A few dozen of the most talented prisoners were sent back to the dungeons of Lordaeron (later relocated to the monastery complex in Northern Tirisfal) for extensive interrogation, as the human clerics attempted to supplement their skills in the Light with the addition of trollish shadowcraft. When Lordaeron city fell to the Scourge, virtually all the trolls had been executed by increasingly paranoid human jailers, fearing (with some warrant) that the trolls were hexing them and accelerating the spread of the disease. Exactly how Vrij'dokk survived is unclear, but this almost certainly reflects a high level of personal talent in discrete mental manipulation, as well as a knack for appearing benign and harmless. Vrij'dokk played off Arthas' agents with similar subtlety, convincing them that he had uniquely valuable information on the elves of Silvermoon and how to bypass their magical defenses. When the city awoke from Scourge domination, he quickly moved to ingratiate himself with the Forsaken, pledging them (and, by association, the new Horde) his current loyalty. Aspirations Due to affiliation (albeit peripheral) with the campaigns of Zul'jin during the second war, Vrij'dokk remains keenly interested in maintaining a Horde presence in the Eastern Kingdoms, particularly in the north. He regards the humans and elves as uniquely incompetent in their inability to perceive and obstruct the strategems of the Legion, and would prefer to see the entire region placed under Horde management, ideally troll management. His tireless labor is to oppose all the occupying forces of the region, including not only the Scourge but also the Elves and (probably) the Forsaken, although he's far too indebted to the latter to express this openly. He retains a deep grudge against the Alliance humans for their maltreatment of his friends during the war-- a somewhat myopic and hypocritical bias, since the trolls were cruel enough themselves-- regarding them with a coldly vindictive streak. Tiring of endless war, the old shadowpriest labors tirelessly to find more covert ways of restoring civilization to the region. Since the opening of the Portal, he has been quietly encouraging the relocation of Blood Elf populations to Outlands, supporting any elven factions hostile to Kael'thas that seem to be operating independent of Silvermoon. His latest project has involved abducting Alliance military personal for mind control experiments, hoping to find a way to insert enslaved agents under his personal control into the government of Ironforge, in order to skew their policy in directions beneficial to the Horde (or at any rate, his vision of what directions the Horde should take). He's been keeping to himself more often, out of a concern that the orcs would regard mental domination as a violation of the Horde code of honor. Privately he regards this as the best hope for a peaceful resolution of the war, with the human nations being bloodlessly infiltrated and brought under Horde control. The failure of Thrall to intercede on behalf of Zul'jin, even as treasure hunters set up camp on the steps of Zul'Aman, has shaken his confidence in the Horde to the point where he regards the "new Horde" as too ineffectual to accomplish any useful goals beyond being a safe haven against the Scourge. At this point, Vrij'dokk's only remaining guarantee of loyalty is his affection for a few associates, and certain oaths made to Lady Sylvanas.